The Broncos will play their starters 10-15 snaps in Friday night’s preseason opener against the Falcons. Those starters will not include quarterback Bo Nix.
The game is on the artificial turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and Nix is returning from a fractured right ankle.
Nix will play in the second and third preseason games, coach Sean Payton said Wednesday.
“If we were playing a game — you guys have watched practice — he would [play],” Payton said, via video from Romi Bean of CBS News Colorado. “He wanted to play. He’ll play the next two weeks.
“I think that was probably something that was already decided maybe like a month ago. But if we were playing a game, I would say he would play. You’d have to ask him, but I would say [he’d be] 100 percent.”
Nix was injured in the Broncos’ divisional-round playoff victory over the Bills, and the AFC Championship Game was the first game he has missed for injury in his career.
With Nix watching from the sideline, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger will handle the quarterback duties against the Falcons as they compete for the backup job.
